Marine mentor

Cyr Couturier sees the importance of mentoring young
students

There are a number of great reasons to mentor a young student,
especially when the student displays a passion for their work, said
Cyr Couturier, a research scientist at the Marine Institute.

Mr. Couturier, who is also the chair, M.Sc. Aquaculture and works
in MI’s Centre for Aquaculture and Seafood Development, has a
well deserved reputation for helping any aspiring young mind
looking for guidance. He has even taken to mentoring students who
have not yet finished high school, all in the name of growing
interest in the science programs he loves.

“I like to see young people interested in marine sciences and
marine technology,” Mr. Couturier said. “Maybe someday
they’ll come here and do a program at the Marine Institute,
maybe not, but if they have an interest in these areas, I like to
provide them with a little bit of insight.”

Mr. Couturier’s latest protégé was Megan Howse,
a 13-year-old from Mount Pearl who is a Grade 8 student at St.
Peter’s Junior High. Ms. Howse asked Mr. Couturier for help
in coming up with ideas for a science project she was entering in
the Aventis BioTalent Challenge. Mr. Couturier suggested a project
looking at the natural production of essential omega-3 fatty acids
using microalgae and the different ways to undertake such
research.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to human health, however they
cannot be manufactured by the human body. They can be found in fish
and other marine life like krill and algae. They play an important
role in fighting heart disease and are considered by many to be
brain food, making omega-3 fatty acids an important topic of
research for many years to come. Ms. Howse liked the idea of
investigating this topic further and jumped at the chance to work
with Mr. Couturier on the project.

“I found the health benefits of omega-3 really interesting. I
also thought that since omega- 3 is an important topic right now,
it would be interesting to do some research about it,” she
said. “I really enjoyed actually being able to go into the
labs and having all of the proper equipment and tools to use. It
was a very different experience for me, to be able to go into a lab
and work by myself. I think that was a good challenge.”

Mr. Couturier was impressed that Megan showed initiative in the
early stages of the project and maintained her interest until it
was completed. The pair started working together in December, 2008
and continued until the end of April when Megan was ready to take
their work to the judges.

“A lot of the work was her own design and she did it by
herself,” said Mr. Couturier . “We came up with a
couple of experiments she could do, found the lab space for her and
spent some time helping her with these experiments.”
The efforts demonstrated by Mr. Couturier and Ms. Howse obviously
paid off, as the grade eight student went on to win a gold medal in
her age category at the Eastern School District Regional Science
Fair, a gold medal in the National Science Fair in her age category
and a silver medal at the Aventis Biotech Challenge.

“It felt really good, knowing how hard I had worked on this
project, to know that it paid off. But even if I hadn’t won,
I think it would have been worth all of my work for the
experience,” Ms. Howse said. “I was certainly not
expecting to win gold at Nationals, after being told how hard it is
to receive that award. It was a great honour, and it felt good
being told that my project was really good.”

The silver medal at the Aventis Biotech Challenge is not as flashy
as the two golds Megan won, however Mr. Couturier says it may
actually be the most impressive of the awards since Ms. Howse
competed against several Grade 11 and 12 students at this
event.

“To me, the interesting part of all this is that a young
student was interested in coming to MI and gaining some insight
into something that might be applicable for human health and
nutrition in the future,” said Mr. Couturier. “She
learned quite a bit, she’s quite smart for a grade eight
student. The judges were impressed with her.”

This is not the first time a student mentored by Mr. Couturier has
gone on to win big at a science competition. Just two years ago a
group of students from Lewisporte sought Mr. Couturier’s help
when working on a project regarding shrimp by-product utilization
as feed stimulants for farmed cod. Those students also won a
provincial title and went on to compete at the national level.
Ms. Howse is not surprised Mr. Couturier’s past
protégées also found success, since she experienced
firsthand the benefits of his mentoring skills.

“Cyr really guided me through, making sure I used the proper
procedures and proper techniques,” Ms. Howse said.
“Working with Cyr allowed me to use the Marine
Institute’s Aquaculture lab as well as the chemistry lab,
which I would not have been able to do otherwise. This project
allowed me to make many connections, which I will certainly use in
the future.”

Mr. Couturier prefers to give all the credit to the students he has
mentored, however there is little doubt he played a hand in their
success. He said he enjoys every minute of the mentoring process
and was happy to see fellow MI faculty such as Dr. Laura Halfyard,
Kiley Best and Jason Nichols pitch in to help Megan with her recent
award-winning science project.

“It’s important to give students such as Megan the
benefit of your experience in an industry that is important to the
economy of Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Mr. Couturier .
“It exposes the students to potential career avenues, quality
careers doing good things for the people of this province.
I’m interested in applied science that tries to solve
problems and if I can expose anybody to that, it might be a benefit
to someone down the road.”